The dinosaur, Rhinorex condrupus aka “King Nose,” could have used its namesake body part for a variety of functions, according to Terry Gates, who co-discovered the dino with colleague Rodney Sheetz.
“The purpose of such a big nose is still a mystery,” Gates, a joint postdoctoral researcher with NC State and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, said in a press release. “If this dinosaur is anything like its relatives then it likely did not have a super sense of smell; but maybe the nose was used as a means of attracting mates, recognizing members of its species, or even as a large attachment for a plant-smashing beak.”
“We are already sniffing out answers to these questions, added Gates, who co-authored a paper on the dinosaur that is published in the latest issue of the Journal of Systematic Paleontology.
Gates and Sheetz came across the dinosaur’s remains in storage at the Brigham Young Museum of Paleontology, where Sheetz is based. First excavated in the 1990’s from Utah’s Neslen formation, Rhinorex was initially of interest because of its well-preserved skin impressions.
When Gates and Sheetz recently reconstructed its skull, they realized that they were looking at a new dinosaur species.
“We had almost the entire skull, which was wonderful,” Gates said, “but the preparation was very difficult. It took two years to dig the fossil out of the sandstone it was embedded in–it was like digging a dinosaur skull out of a concrete driveway.”
The reconstruction and analysis of the fossils reveal that the dinosaur lived approximately 75 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous. It measured about 30 feet long and weighed over 8,500 pounds.
Read more at Discovery News
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